October is upon us. The time of autumn, of scary stories, of costume. Last year, I covered the horror genre, so this time around will look at the role of villains in literature.

Many claim that the antagonist can make or break the story, because conflict is the heart of storytelling, and villains are the blood vessels that carry it out. The main body of literature needs this circulation to survive, and a weakly made villain is akin to an internal bleeding of a plot.

Antagonists are not limited to people, appearing as collectives (person vs society), an animal or force of the wild (person vs nature), or a character’s own mind (person vs self), with a multitude of alternatives. All stem from one fundamental fact of life: a lot of things are trying to kill us. Or, at least there are plenty of obstacles we face while trying to accomplish our goals. In a sense, storytelling gives us a means to cope with this and assess why this happens.

Philosophers, psychologists, and many others have tried to understand the mind behind crime. What drives people to ignore social bonds and kill, steal, assault. Literature has been at the forefront of this discussion, and every fictional villain (no matter how poorly written) adds something to the dialogue.

Greed is a common motivation for many villains, as it is common in real life; yet in stories, this is often considered a weak reason. Too easy to think of and rationalize, an overly simplified answer to a complex question.

Sadism appears frequently too, given the role it plays in many psychologies of serial killers. Like with greed, it may not do well enough on its own, but could be more compelling if paired with other factors.

Compare Walter White from Breaking Bad. He turns to meth-selling and organized crime primarily for money, but the money is to pay for his cancer treatments. Mixing in greed with survival instinct (arguably, the most understandable motive for most people) adds layers of depth behind his motivations. This then makes his Shakespearean tragic fall more impactful.

Also consider many renditions of the Sheriff of Nottingham. The figure does enjoy taking money from commoners, and displays sadistic tendencies in many adaptations. Yet the underlying reason behind it is a man who secured a position of power at a time with limited social mobility, doing whatever he can to maintain his station. It is not entirely about the coin or even the ability to harm others, but the desire to use authority before he loses it.

And the motivations become more complex when you add in reasons that do not seem villainous. Love. Family legacy. Duty.

Irony is one of the few things that will remain eternally beautiful. People die, then rot. Flowers wilt. Art fades and cracks. Even mountains erode, and rivers dry. But irony will never lose its appeal.

I say this, because the best villains have a touch of irony in their nature. Something typically good is used for evil purposes, or a usual herolike figure is the antagonist. The reversal of expectations has us realize that wickedness is not always as straightforward as believed.

Ideas viewed as noble turn vile. Someone we should trust betrays that integrity. All of this warns us not only of the snakes in the rosebush, but that our own perception of morality may not be as pure-hearted as thought.

The trash heap of history is full of people who believed they were doing the right thing. Claiming oneself to be too good to commit evil is the slickest path to villainy, and most have no clue they walk it.

Literature allows these types of discussions. The mirror to see our own flaws, warning us to correct them before it is too late.

What are some interesting villain motives you have read? What makes an antagonist stand out above others?

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